CUSTOM SHOP GUITARS can be presented in three groups:
TEAMBUILT
The team built guitars is what you see the majority of here. Every year, the Custom Shop team makes a yearly selection of guitar they want to build for their yearly collection. This is often based on what dealers require. Many units of each models are made in a joint collaboration (hence, the term Teambuilt)
These guitars are then distributed worldwide for sale at vendors. So when you go to a store and see a selection of Custom Shop on the wall, you are browsing the teambuilt models. Almost the same as browsing regular USA Strats, just more limited selection, and more expensive.
MASTERBUILT
Masterbuilt is made by a singular Custom Shop luthier. You can divide Masterbuilt into two sub-categories:
Masterbuilt by customer is simply a one-of-a-kind. You go to a dealer, you fill out a spec sheet of your dream guitar and they order it for you. You wait 1-2 years and you get it.
Materbuilt for distributions are several Signatures or unique ideas. You find a few on my chronology. Each model are made in units in anything from 10 to 100 guitars, and its first come serve. Go to a store and order it and hope the have more left of it. Masterbuilt can be built over a period of time over 1-2 years. So they can be sold out, but more can be made over time. Contact Custom Shop to ask for status.
PRESTIGE
These are unique, one-of-a-kind models. The absolute pinacle of builds. Every now and then, a select group of CS Luthiers get to have a crack at building something unique where they use their skills and imagination. Many of them in collaborations with artist like painters and such. Prestiges are often made for showcasing at guitar shows like NAMM, and often just for a showcase to present at Fender website. Dealers that attend these shows can put in an order for this guitar and sell it trough their websites. Its a prestigious thing. They can also bid to buy if presented on their website.
These are highly expensive guitars that usually starts at $10.000 or so. So they are more for the player with exquisite taste and fat wallets..
Be aware that most teambuilt models can appear in other finishes and colors as well then those presented. The exceptions are Signature and Masterbuilt guitars.
Limited Edition Series (2021)
Decal:
Colors:
Dark Antique Varnish (001)
Model# 921-6095-001 (Relic)
BODY
Wood: Flame Maple
Top Wood: Carved Italian Spruce from Fiemme Valley
Binding: Custom Black Antique Style Purfling
Lacquer: Hand Polished Varnish / Light Reliced
Shape: Full Hollow Body Custom Telecaster Shape / Dual F Holes
Pickguard: None
Serial: Unknown
NECK
Wood: Bosnian 4A Flame Maple
Fretboard: Round Laminated Ebony
Lacquer: Aged Antique Hand Polished Varnish
Profile: Oval "C" (.800" -"980")
Inlays: White Micarta Dot
Headstock: Standard Telecaster Lacquered Aged Antique
Nut Width: 1.650" (42 mm)
Nut Material: Black Graphite Nut
Scale: 25.5"
Radius: 9.5"
#Frets: 22
Fretwire: 6130 Medium Jumbo
Trussrod: Bullet Headstock Adjust (Black)
MicroTilt: No
Contoured Heel: No
GOLD HARDWARE
Bridge Type: Custom Piezo Patended Bridge
Tail Piece: Custom Hand Made Wood Tail-End Trapeze Violin Style
Bridge Marking: None
Saddles: Brass Interchangable
Tuners: Gotoh SGS510Z, Black, with Ebony Buttons
String Tree: Black 50s Round button
Knobs: Black Knurled Dome
Neckplate: Aged Darkened Black Plain Plate
ELECTRONICS
Switch: 3-Way Switchcraft (LP Orientated)
Wiring: Modern Std: N/NB/B
Pots: Master Volume (Pickups) / Master Volume (Piezo) / Master Tone
Pickup Config: HH
Neck Pickup: TV Jones Thunder'Blade Humbucker (Gold Cover)
Bridge Pickup: TV Jones Thunder'Blade Humbucker (Gold Cover)
Saddle Pickup: Custom Piezo
INFO
Masterbuilder: Yuriy Shishkov
Case: Natural Wood Flight Case "Fender" Flame Etched Logo w/ Gray Lining
Case Candy: Strap + 3 Piezo Saddles + COA
Factory Strings: D'Addario EHR350 Half Rounds (.012-.052 Gauges)
PRICE: $35.000 +/-
#Built: 60 guitars made
DESCRIPTION:
This beautiful hand-made instrument is inspired by and crafted in tribute to the famous "Gibson-Huberman" Stradivarius violin built by Antonio Stradivari in 1713 and now owned by Grammy award-winning violinist Joshua Bell.
The storied violin is so named for an early owner, British violinist George Alfred Gibson, and most famously for a subsequent owner, Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman, from whom the instrument was stolen twice - first in 1919 in Vienna (recovered shortly thereafter), and again in 1936 in New York, when it was taken from Huberman's dressing room during a performance at Carnegie Hall. He never saw it again. The violin was recovered in 1985 after the thief - a violin player himself who used shoe polish to disguise the instrument for 50 years - made a deathbed confession. After a nine-month restoration in the late 1980s, the instrument was sold at auction to British violinist Norbert Brainin.
Bell acquired the violin in 2001, and it is he who gave the exclusive privilege of examining the instrument to Fender Custom Shop principal master builder Yuriy Shishkov, who has captured the 300-year-old violin's essence in the Violinmaster Telecaster. The guitar is fashioned with the look and feel of a Stradivari violin, from the same materials and sources used by the great Italian luthier more than three centuries ago.
Its hollow flame maple body has a carved "Stradivari" spruce top from northern Italy's Fiemme Valley, with proportionately scaled Stradivarius violin f-holes and purfling. The neck is constructed of Bosnian flame maple with an oval "C"-shaped profile, headstock truss rod adjustment and no skunk stripe. The 9.5"-radius round-laminated ebony fingerboard has 22 medium jumbo frets. Both neck and body feature an authentic European hand-polished violin varnish "Antiqued" finish.
Three passive piezo pickups and two TV Jones® Thunder'Blade pickups offer a wide variety of tonal options, with three-way pickup switching. Additional features include a custom Fender "patent pending" floating bridge with interchangeable saddles, black tuning machines with ebony buttons, graphite nut and disc string tree. Also includes a custom flight case, mini violin case for the interchangeable bridge saddles and certificate of authenticity.
